Atmospheric deposition, retention, and stream export of dioxins and PCBs in a pristine boreal catchment

Abstract

The mass-balance between diffuse atmospheric deposition of organic pollutants, amount of pollutants retained by the terrestrial environment, and levels of pollutants released to surface stream waters was studied in a pristine northern boreal catchment. This was done by comparing the input of atmospheric deposition of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and furans (PCDD/Fs) and PCBs with the amounts exported to surface waters. Two types of deposition samplers were used, equipped with a glass fibre thimble and an Amberlite sampler respectively. The measured fluxes showed clear seasonality, with most of the input and export occurring during winter and spring flood, respectively. The mass balance calculations indicates that the boreal landscape is an effective sink for PCDD/Fs and PCBs, as 96.0-99.9 % of received bulk deposition was retained, suggesting that organic pollutants will continue to impact stream water in the region for an extended period of time. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords

Dioxin; Atmospheric deposition; Diffuse pollution; Retention; Catchment

Published in

Environmental Pollution
2011, volume: 159, number: 6, pages: 1592-1598
Publisher: ELSEVIER SCI LTD

SLU Authors

• Laudon, Hjalmar

  • Department of Forest Ecology and Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Larsson, Anna

  • Department of Forest Ecology and Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Wiberg, Karin

  • Department of Aquatic Sciences and Assessment, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    
  • Umeå University

Global goals (SDG)

SDG6 Clean water and sanitation

UKÄ Subject classification

Environmental Sciences and Nature Conservation

Publication identifier

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2011.02.050

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/60121